32 Questions
by LScore
Summary: This was just a stupid game, right? This is a contribution to Sanami Week 2020, under the first prompt "Eye Contact"


I do not own One Piece nor do I receive any commercial benefit from this fic. All rights belong to their respective rights holders.

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"Number 30 is... when did you last cry in front of another person? By yourself?"

"That one you should remember!" Nami swatted him on the arm. They were sitting next to each other at the galley table, since it was one of those rare times in the afternoon when no one was eating, and Sanji didn't need to be preparing a meal. Their arms were touching, just barely, with the damn article on the table between them. She still wasn't sure how Sanji had talked her into this.

Sanji scratched his head awkwardly. He did remember. It was seared into his memory, as was the ache in his arms that he couldn't hold her when she cried in front of him. He couldn't tell her that. He cleared his throat, "Mine too."

Nami's eyes narrowed, "Was it in front of Luffy or perhaps... In front of her?"

Sanji squinted at her. Was that jealousy he spied? "Who, Nami-san?"

"Her," She scowled at him, "Your fiancee."

Sanji cleared his throat. She was cute when she was jealous. "Former fiancee. No, I was by myself. I was just thinking about my... mother."

"Oh," Nami blushed. She didn't say anything, but she did rub a hand across his arm and left it there. It felt so warm, "Here, let me see. Number 31 is... Name something you already like about me."

"That's easy," Sanji scoffed. He started counting off his fingers, "You're really beautiful, you're smexy, you're adorable when you're mad, your smile is a blessing, your laugh is a benediction, you're one of the most intelligent woman I know..."

With everything Sanji counted off, Nami's ears turned redder and redder. He just kept going! How did he keep going?

"You have a heart big enough to hold the whole world, I trust you with my life, you're so cute when you're clever, you've got the most beautiful lips, you m-phm!"

"You're repeating yourself!" Nami burst out. She covered his mouth with her hand to shut him up, only to draw it back with a squeak when he dropped a kiss against her palm again.

He smiled when she glared at him. "What about you, Nami-san?"

"What about me?" She repeated belligerently, her thumb absently caressing where he'd kissed her.

"What's one thing you like about me?" Sanji smiled, goading her a little. His smile faltered when she kept hesitating. "There must be something, Nami-san."

She was going to say something snarky until she saw the kicked puppy look on his face. She sighed. She did promise to at least try to play along. "... You're kind."

Sanji waited. "That's it?"

"The question was a thing! One thing! Are we done yet?" Nami bristled defensively. She blushed. It was embarrassing, okay? She wasn't sure how he did it. She grabbed the list and hastily started scanning it to avoid seeing his expression.

Sanji looked at her, and then a corner of his lips quirked up. Nami was Nami, after all. He understood what she meant.

Nami's brows furrowed as she read further down the list, growing darker and darker until she reached the end. "I don't like any of the other questions. Let's just do the eye contact thing." She firmly tucked the list under her folded arms."

"Hey, wait a minute, Nami-san, that's the whole point!" Sanji protested. He reached out and tried to grab it from her. Nami turned her back to him and pushed the paper further and further under the table without actually dropping it on the floor. They wrestled momentarily, their twin determinations clashing against each other in a ferocious battle.

It was only when he reached under her folded arms, and she squeaked that he realized he'd wrapped his arms around her and had almost groped her breast. Standing just a breath apart, just a kiss away, they stared wide-eyed at each other.

Sanji wanted to bask. Every time he held her, she just felt so right in his arms.

Nami just wanted to hide in embarrassment. She couldn't, because if she did, she'd hide in his chest, but she wanted to.

"Sanji! What's for dinner?" Usopp hollered through the door. The spell between them was broken, and Nami scowled at Sanji, nudging him to back up a step.

"Hurry up or that lot will come in," Nami hissed at him. Sanji sighed defeatedly. He knew she was right.

"Two minutes, yes?" He settled himself more comfortably against the counter by leaning on his hands. That his arms were still loosely around Nami, while also not touching Nami, was entirely accidental.

Entirely.

Nami scowled at him. He was doing this on purpose. She pulled a pocket watch out and showed it to him, saying "120 ticks, I'll count."

Sanji raised one curly eyebrow at her. "Nami-san, because I love you and know you, I don't trust you on this one. Give me your hand, we'll both count."

"Fine," she blurted out. How could he just nonchalantly say things like that?

Sanji smiled, taking one hand off the counter to cup her smaller one in his. Her fingers were delicate and smooth in his hold, and he could feel the seconds tick away in between them.

"Ready?" He asked, a teasing challenge in his smile. She scowled at him, but didn't look away.

"Go," she retorted.

120\. 119. 118...

Sanji was so familiar with her face, but he wasn't going to let this chance to stare at her without her turning away from him just slip by. He knew her eyes, that he could trace the tilt of her eyes, could feel the fan of the lashes, and could fall into the depths of her gaze all in his sleep. Actually, he often did.

106... 105... 104...

Nami knew she must have looked at Sanji's face a lot. After all, they'd been travelling together for so long. But she'd never quite looked into his eyes for so long. Half the time he'd been making sappy heart eyes at her. Now, she could see the smile in the crinkles around his eyes, the darker shadows from some lingering sadness, and the curl in his eyebrows that she found adorable but would never admit that to him. She frowned. She couldn't see his other eye.

She reached out to brush one of his bangs away so she could see his other eye.

82... 81... 80...

Her light brush against his brow sent tingles down his back. He felt oddly naked with her hand holding his hair back.

That's better. She inadvertently rubbed the soft silk of his bangs between her fingers. I wonder what he uses.

74... 73... 72...

Sanji had once heard that eyes are the window to the soul. Now she had both of his open, he wondered if both sides of his soul were to her liking.

Nami wondered if this was why Sanji kept one eye covered. There was kindness and tenderness - that, she was used to. She could also so clearly see the rising wave of embarrassment and the vulnerability that he'd been trying to keep under wraps. That was adorable. He always laid his heart at her feet, and now, not being able to look away from his eyes, she understood just how badly she could stomp on it.

47... 46 ... 45...

"Don't," Sanji whispered when she moved to take a step back away from him and into the counter. "Don't back away from me."

34... 33... 32...

"Sanji...," Her fingers tightened against his forehead. It terrified her, maybe not just a little.

He reached up to hold her hand there, lacing their fingers together. They stared at each other, falling deeper into each other, unconsciously drawing closer, and closer ... and closer...

6... 5... 4... 3...2...1...

"Sanji! When. Are. We. Eating?!"

When Usopp burst through the door, Sanji and Nami were standing next to each other looking anywhere but at each other. He didn't notice their red faces or the pocket watch on the floor, but he did notice that it took Sanji a few seconds to pay attention to him and that nothing had been started on the stove.

"Shut up, Usopp," Sanji lit up a cigarette to hide his trembling fingers.

"But I'm hungry!" He whined.

"I'm out then, before someone here eats me," Nami muttered. She tossed her hair over her shoulder.

"Wait, Nami-san!" Sanji called after her. Even Usopp could tell he looked a little frantic.

She turned around and raised an eyebrow at him.

"Did... Did anything change?" He asked, hesitantly.

"No," She didn't even pause and turned around and left. She didn't see Sanji's shoulders slump slightly, but she heard his light sigh. Nami smirked. That's what he got for making her do such an embarrassing exercise.

_Silly boy, of course nothing changes. I fell in love with you ages ago._

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**AN:** Usually I try to leave my allusions to the reader, but I have three things I really want to explain this time around:

\- I still haven't had the bravery to finish the WCI arc yet because shipper feelings, so the answer to question 30 is entirely made up. I know what happens, but oof my heart. I just gotta have the spoons to do it, okay guys? We'll get there.

\- The article in question is actually the 36 questions to fall in love from the New York Times. It's an actual thing and quite a fun exercise to try with your partner, but if you look it up, you'll see why I skipped the last few. This is a fluff fic, not an angst one.

\- I have been on a Chinese Novel Binge (a moment of silence for our Chinese Colleagues stuck behind the great firewall now), and eating is a common euphemism for *ahem* bedroom activities. Now go read the last few lines again... hehehehe

Hope you enjoyed! I think I'm aiming for five? fics this week (two of them are going to be smut, so they may not happen, but I'm trying!) so keep an eye out.


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